BETWEEN "GREATER IRAN" AND "SHI'ITE CRESCENT": SOME THOUGHTS ON THE NATURE OF IRAN'S AMBITIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Abstract

A couple of years ago, King Abdullah II of Jordan - in obvious analogy to the geographical expression "Fertile Crescent" - alluded to the "threat" of a new, "Shi'ite crescent", stretching from Iran to Iraq, the Arab littoral states in the Persian Gulf region and to Lebanon. According to this view, Iran constitutes the "heart" of this crescent whereas local Arab Shi'ites, such as Lebanon's Hizbullah, would function as mere satellites in the orbit of Tehran and thus being its "potential fifth columns".